


Doctor Curtis and Uncle Toby

by MCO



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: 2am therapy sessions, Friendship, Gen, Uncle-Nephew Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 19:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9507782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCO/pseuds/MCO
Summary: "What surprised Paige was that Ralph’s voice came from the bedroom on her left, Toby and Happy’s bedroom. Ralph was supposed to share the bedroom on her right with Sly. Why was her son, clearly distressed going by his tone of voice, was going to Toby at 2 in the morning instead of herself?"(Slight AU for the Christmas episode).





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to raredelightfulloveoak for proofreading this one.

Paige woke up to the soft voice of her son calling for...Toby? She shook herself awake. They were at the cabin. They decided to stay there for Christmas, despite the events and Ralph’s short, but still terrifying kidnapping, determined to not let this ruined their planned celebrations.

Tim was still asleep next to her. She wasn’t surprised, they had a hard day. If it hadn’t been Ralph, she wouldn’t have heard anyone calling, but her motherly instincts are programmed to wake her up at any sign of distress from her son.

However, what surprised Paige was that Ralph’s voice came from the bedroom on her left, Toby and Happy’s bedroom. Ralph was supposed to share the bedroom on her right with Sly. Why was her son, clearly distressed going by his tone of voice, was going to Toby at 2 in the morning instead of herself?

The sound of the barely awake voice of Toby asked out-loud the same question. He was whispering, certainly trying not to wake Happy, but the walls in this cabin were paper thin.

“What is it buddy? Is it your mom?”

“No”, Ralph answered. He sounded more timid than she had heard him in years. “She must still be asleep. I had a nightmare”, he finally confessed.

Toby wasn’t at his best when barely awake, so he was a little harsher than Paige would have liked when he questioned her son. “And you come to me because….?”

“It is a trauma-induced nightmare. You’re a psychiatric. It’s literally your area of expertise”, Ralph answered. Paige had to stifle a little groan. He sounded so matter-of-factly, and so much like Walter that it frightened her a little.

“Yeah, you’re right. Give me 30 seconds, I'll meet you downstairs”, Toby replied finally with a slight sight. 

The wave of love Paige felt at this moment for Toby made her almost cry. As a single mother, her biggest fear has always had been that no one would care for Ralph if something ever happened to her. This fear had lessened since Scorpion entered their life. But the reminder right now, right here warmed her heart, especially with all the tensions present within the team at the moment.

She heard Ralph climb down the stairs and then, exactly 30 seconds later, she heard Toby’s heavier step following her son downstairs.

She hesitated a little while, before getting out of bed herself. She did trust Toby with her son, she knew he would help him, or at the very least he would never hurt him. Nonetheless, she was still curious and worried about the nightmare that woke Ralph up, and knew that Toby would never tell her what it was. The man took patient/doctor confidentiality very seriously, even when the person confining in him weren’t truly a patient. She’ll deal with her guilty conscience from eavesdropping on her son and the Doc once she’ll be sure her kid was safe and happy.

She stayed on the second floor, out of sight, but she could see them, and hear them. Ralph was sitting on the couch, a blanket around his shoulders. Toby was busying himself in the kitchen, in just boxers and an Harvard T-shirt. After a few minutes, Toby sat down next to Ralph, with two steaming mugs in his hands.

“2am therapy sessions do not work without hot chocolate milk”, The psychiatrist said as he gave the mug to Ralph. “Drink up”.

After Ralph obediently drank a few sips, Toby started the questioning with a soft voice. “So what was this nightmare about?”.

And so, Paige had to listen to her kid describe once again his kidnapping. Paige couldn’t kept her tears at bay listening to it again, and to see how much it hurt her son. Especially when Toby asked him what he was feeling while dreaming, and Ralph answered that he was scared, felt powerless, and abandoned.

“It’s pretty normal”, Toby said in a reassuring voice. “I give you that, it’s horrible, but it means your brain is working through it, and trying to deal with what happened to you, and to tell you exactly what is hurting you inside and what you have to deal with. It’s actually healthy, buddy. So, excuse me to say this, but I’m glad you had a nightmare. It means you’re not trying to repress it, your brain is trying to get rid of all the pain”.

Paige wasn’t so glad about it, her son needed a restful night, and not to relive indefinitely something so traumatic. But she decided to trust Toby on it. After all, she wasn’t a psychiatrist and she always promised herself to never become the mom that thinks that she knows better than the doctors, just because she carried her kid for 9 months. She wasn’t always successful, but the fact that she trusted Toby as a friend first helped her here.

“Will I have more nightmares?” Ralph asked. Surprisingly he sounded better, almost reassured by what Toby said to him. Or maybe that wasn’t so surprising. Ralph not unlike Walter was all about science and reason. It’s unexplained stuff that scared him, not nightmares especially once he knows the reason behind them.

“More likely, and we will talk about it together, and we will find together what message your brain is trying to tell you, and how we go about that once we understand it”, Toby reassured him once again. “For the time being, I’ll say that we go back to bed. I’ll give you a notebook tomorrow, and you’ll write down your nightmares on it. As soon as you wake up, and with as much details as you can. Facts and feelings, buddy. And we will study them together in the mornings or after school”.

Paige saw Ralph nod his consent, but she knew that he was still shaken up by the nightmare and wasn’t ready to go back to bed. And apparently, Toby saw it too. He didn’t get up, but brought an arm around Ralph’s shoulders and pulled him closer to snuggle against him.

“So, now that Doctor Curtis did his job, do you want to talk to Uncle Toby? Why didn’t you want to talk to your mother? The truth, please, because I’m pretty sure she’s great with nightmares, too”. 

That was something Paige wondered, too. Ralph might have gave the logical reason at first, and pretty good one, but she knew it wasn’t all.

“Tim’s with her” Ralph simply said, as if it was enough reason. And somehow, for Toby, it was, since the guy only nodded his understanding, and just dropped a kiss on her son’s head. But for her it wasn’t. She thought that Ralph was comfortable with Tim. She was obviously very wrong. This gave her a lot to think about regarding her relationship with him. She liked him, a lot, but if it kept Ralph from going to her when he was distressed, it wasn’t worth it, at all.

“Don’t worry too much about it”, Toby answered after a while. “She won’t stay with him for long, she’s still in love with Walter, even if it’s all muddle up in her head for now.”

Paige almost forgot she was eavesdropping on them and almost stood up to denied it. But she caught herself just in time to hear Ralph ask why.

“This, my little man, is for your mom, and Walter to figure out. I’d tell you you’ll understand once you grow up, but relationship are hard to understand. Even I don’t get it right all the time, you witness enough of my blunders with Happy to know that. And I’m a grown up”. Toby said

“That’s debatable”, Ralph tried to deadpan. He still couldn’t control the little smirk he got when he joked around, though.

Toby chuckled at the barb and dropped another kiss on Ralph head. “Ready to go back to bed?” He asked again.

Ralph simply buried himself a little bit deeper into Toby’s side, clear indication that it was a no. Though, he was yawning and his eyes were dropping. It was clear for Paige that he will be out for a little while.

But Toby nodded and got comfortable, seemingly content to wait for Ralph to give the go. Paige knew her son, though. She knew that given the choice, like Toby did, he would always refused to go to sleep. It didn’t take long, though. A few minutes later, Ralph was fast asleep into Toby side.

“Of course you have to fall asleep on me. Your “let’s ruin Toby’s night” plan wouldn’t have been complete if I didn’t have to carry you back to bed”. The fondness in his voice and small smile belied the harshness of Toby’s words.

The behaviorist got up, and with a huff got Ralph in his arms, and started to carry him up the stairs. Paige debated to go back to her room before he saw her, but noticed that Ralph had closed his bedroom door. There was no way Toby knew how to open a door with a kid in his arms. It took her months to master that one.

“Oh, sorry, we woke you?” Toby whispered once he noticed her. He nodded his thanks when she opened the door for him, and then carefully put Ralph on his bed. Sly didn’t even stir for all the process. That man could sleep through a bomb when he was deep asleep.

Once Toby was out of the room, and back into the hallway, Paige basically jumped, and hugged him with all what she was worth.

“Hmmm...You’re welcome?” Toby asked, awkwardly.

She let go of him after a few seconds, but not without kissing his cheek.

“I know it isn’t on the card anymore, and not for a little while, but what you were worried about when we thought that Happy was pregnant? Don’t worry so much, when the time comes, you’ll be amazing”.

And with that, she got back to her bed, leaving the Doc speechless but pleased.

Fin


End file.
